Monday, January 6, 2014

New Year's Eve

Life has a way of becoming perfect, without you even knowing it's happening. Things just fall into place and stuff you thought was not within your reach (and you feel okay with that), suddenly falls into your lap. That is what happened to me. This post is about New Year's Eve and Jonathan--my beau and the most important grown-up boy in my life.

We met a couple months ago on LDSplanet.com and started talking on the phone and then skyping. I had made plans to go with a singles group on a cruise ship in the San Francisco bay for New Year's Eve and I invited him along. After deliberating about it with his boss, he was finally able to get work off and go. It was a very incredible, magical night. We also spent New Year's Day roaming the city and seeing the sites.

First, here's my dress. I didn't get a better picture of it that night, but this I took right after getting it fitted just a few days before the big event. I can't remember the last time I bought a pretty new dress for a fancy party. It felt GREAT!

Here we are as we were waiting in line to go on the ship. That's our ship in the background. They served a nice buffet dinner, there was dancing, and of course the midnight fire works show. It was great just standing on the deck, watching the lights of the city and cruising the bay. It was a little chilly, but the weather couldn't have been better or clearer, especially for San Francisco.

The next day, we drove over to Sausalito to see views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was again a beautiful, clear day. Luckily Jon is familiar with some parts of the area and knew of a great pizza place right on the water in Sausalito. We went there for lunch and it was some of the best Hawaiian pizza I've ever had in my life. I still am craving it today. :)

The view from our table outside the restaurant (practically).

Next we went to Ocean Beach to watch the people, the water, and enjoy the weather. We sat on a tall, cement wall that separates the beach from the parking lot. It was probably about 10 feet high on the sand-side and some little boys kept climbing up and jumping off into the sand dunes. It looked like fun, so we decided we wanted to try it. Once we stood up, though, 10 feet turned in to what looked like 45 feet! It was a long ways down! After some mutual encouragement, we took the plunge (I jumped first, ahem) and it wasn't so scary after all. We were still laughing about how scared we were when three ladies walked past us on the beach and said, "Nice jump!" It made me laugh thinking what we must have looked like and how many people were taking bets on whether we'd do it or not.

He's a silly one. :) One thing I love about him is how he makes me laugh. All. The. Time.

Jon was determined to find buffalo in Golden Gate Park. I guess someone once doubted him and that somehow turned into him having to prove it to ME, even though I thought that anything would be possible and was intrigued to find out if it was true. Sure enough, it was! Here they are, the buffalo who live in the middle of San Francisco.

Jon took me home that night and then had to drive himself all the way back home and go straight to work early the morning of January 2...he was such a trooper. It was the absolute best New Year's of my life (and probably one of the best nights of my life in general) and I am SO looking forward to many more wonderful memories. He's so kind, sweet, and he thinks the world of me. Who knew guys like him were out there, huh? And how did I get so lucky to find one? :)